Fire

We were already using fire 800,000 years earlier than we thought

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He dominion of fire isWithout a doubt, the greatest turning point in the technological and evolutionary history of our lineage. It gave us warmth, it scared away predators and, by allowing us to cook food, it triggered the development of our brains and also our own lives. Until now, the scientific consensus placed the strongest evidence of its early use at around one million years, although this is no longer the case. A new study. a new study published in PLOS ONE takes us to Wonderwerk Cave, in the northern Cape province of South Africa. This site was already “old acquaintance” for paleoanthropologists, since in 2012 a team demonstrated the existence of fire on site in layer 10 of the cave, dated to approximately one million years. And this is important because from here the consensus was created about when humans discovered fire. But the story didn’t end there. The new study has descended one more step in time, specifically to layer 11 of the same cave and there they have found burned bones with an age that ranges between 1.07 and 1.79 million years. And it is vital. The location of the remains is vital, since they were found 30 meters deep inside the cavern. This completely rules out that the fire marks are the product of a random forest fire or a lightning strike, but rather that someone had to carry those flames there after learning to control the fire. A new debate. The evidence that suggests that our past knew how to make fire is much later, since in sites such as Gesher Benot Ya’aqov In Israel, total control of technology is already shown. What this new finding raises is whether these Homo erectus early people did not know how to light a fire from scratch. What is proposed is that instead they were “thieves” of nature, since they took advantage of natural fires caused by lightning or volcanoes, collected the embers and transported them inside the cave to keep them alive as long as possible. A technique that, although it seems simple, entails great cognitive and social complexity. The technology. If the fire in layer 11 had not been confirmed until now, it is because it is incredibly difficult to distinguish a bone burned almost two million years ago from a fossilized bone that has undergone chemical alterations. And it is no wonder, since with the passage of millennia, diagenetic processes such as fluoridation or the accumulation of manganese can darken the fossils, giving them a false appearance of having been carbonized. But now we have very important tools, such as luminescence techniques combined with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, which allow us to reveal chemical secrets at the molecular level. A new paradigm. The experts who have given their opinion on this study through the Science Media Center Spain such as Joaquín Panera or researchers specialized in fire such as Aitor Burguet-Coca agree in describing the methodological protocol as “innovative”, highlighting that it opens the door to reevaluate huge collections of fossils in other sites, such as Koobi Fora in Kenya, where there are ambiguous signs of fire 1.5 million years ago. In Xataka | We had always believed that evolution had been arrested for thousands of years. The redheads were telling us the opposite

A drone has set fire to the perimeter of the first Arab nuclear power plant

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During the war between Iran and Iraq in 1982, a missile accidentally hit near the plant Iran’s Bushehr nuclear when it was still under construction. The incident sowed such concern international that for decades civil nuclear facilities in the Middle East were surrounded by a kind of unwritten taboo even in the midst of the region’s toughest conflicts. A drone and a border that no one wanted to cross. For years, Gulf monarchies assumed that their large energy infrastructures could be vulnerable to missiles or attacks on refineries, ports and pipelines. But there was one psychological line that seemed to remain intact: nuclear power plants. The fire caused by a drone in the perimeter of Barakah, the first nuclear plant trade of the Arab world, has changed that. Although there was no radioactive leak or damage inside the reactor, the simple fact that an unmanned aircraft reached the immediate surroundings of a nuclear facility in the middle of the war between Iran, the United States and Israel has opened a completely new scene for regional security. The Gulf has just entered unknown territory: it is no longer just about protecting oil and gas, but about defending civilian nuclear facilities against cheap, difficult to intercept and politically explosive attacks. Much more than electricity. The Barakah central It occupies a particularly sensitive place within the Emirati strategy. Built with South Korean technology and operational since 2021, it provides around of a quarter of the country’s electricity and represents the great project with which the Emirates tried to diversify its energy economy and reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. That is why the attack has a symbolic burden enormous even if the damage was limited. Hitting the Barakah perimeter means demonstrating that no strategic infrastructure is completely out of reach of the drone war that already dominates the Middle East. Also launches another disturbing message: Civilian nuclear facilities are beginning to enter the risk map of modern regional conflicts. The Gulf War no longer revolves only around oil. The truth is that the evolution of the conflict is profoundly altering the security logic of the entire region. Since the start of the war, Iran has launched thousands of drones and missiles against the Emirates and other Gulf countries to increase the economic and political cost of the campaign led by the United States and Israel. Until now, much of the concern has focused on Hormuz, energy exports and maritime traffic. But he Barakah incident expands the problem into another, much more delicate dimension. An attack against a nuclear power plant, even if it is peripheral, immediately forces international alarms to be activated, involve the International Atomic Energy Agency and propose scenarios that until recently seemed unlikely in the region. The real problem. The most uncomfortable thing for the Emirates and its allies is that the attack proves again a reality that has already been seen in Ukraine, Russia or the Red Sea: even extremely rich and protected countries have enormous difficulties in stopping relatively simple and cheap drones. According to the Emiratesthree aircraft penetrated from the western border and one of them managed to reach the external electrical generator of Barakah despite the existing defenses. The scene perfectly sums up the current imbalance of modern warfare. A small drone can force the activation of nuclear protocols, trigger diplomatic tensions and generate global concern at a negligible cost compared to the gigantic air defense investments of the Gulf states. An increasingly fragile truce. The attack also arrives in one of the most tense moments since the ceasefire between Iran and the United States. Donald Trump has toughened his speech against Tehran (a few hours ago he even said he was about to attack Iran before to stop the operation), Israel speculate again openly with a resumption of the war and the Emirates has become the Arab country more aggressive against Iran during the conflict. Abu Dhabi directly accuses to Iran or its regional allies for having crossed an extremely dangerous line. The problem is that the Barakah incident demonstrates the extent to which the region has entered a phase where escalation can occur. through ambiguous attackscheap and difficult to attribute with complete clarity. And that makes every downed drone (or every drone what gets through) now has the potential to trigger a much larger crisis. Image | Store N., Wikimedia In Xataka | Iran is about to inaugurate in Hormuz a concept that has the shape of a global nightmare: the underwater toll In Xataka | Dubai has come to the same conclusion as Russia. To protect your oil from drones there is something better than missiles: giant cages

its lunar lander just passed a NASA fire test

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The race between SpaceX and Blue Origin to land on the Moon continue and Jeff Bezos’ company has just taken a big step forward. This week, testing of its MK1 lander in NASA’s vacuum chamber was successfully completed. This demonstrates that it is ready to take NASA payloads to our satellite this year and, above all, that it is on the right track to also take the Artemis astronauts to the lunar surface. Everything under control. MK1 is an uncrewed cargo lander. NASA has chosen it to take two payloads to the Moon at the end of this year. On the one hand, the stereoscopic cameras for the surface study of the lunar plumes at the south pole. On the other hand, the retroreflective laser array, which will help find the location of the instruments placed in orbit. To verify that the landing system is ready, it has been tested in NASA’s vacuum chamber A, where the conditions it will be exposed to during its space trip are emulated. The results have been positive, which is why they represent a great advance for Blue Origin and a reason for SpaceX’s fear. A camera to imitate space. NASA Camera A It is a vacuum chamber, 27 meters highin which temperatures fluctuate between -50ºC and 30ºC. It is used to imitate space conditions and check the performance and stability of the systems that are planned to be brought there. In the case of the MK1, it has been proven that it has great structural resistance and that it withstands thermal stress as expected. From MK1 to MK2. In general, the results of these tests They have been very positive. Even so, there have been learnings that will be applied in the development of MK2, the manned lander with which it is expected to perform commercial services for NASA. Logically, the main manned commercial service that Blue Origin wants to be part of is the Artemis program. But there is a competitor with the same purpose. The race against SpaceX. NASA launched the development of the HLS manned landing system for Artemis in the hands of SpaceX and Blue Origin. Both have received funding for the development of their respective technologies, so the US space agency ensures that it will keep the one that finishes first. As long as the result is reliable, of course. It seemed that in this competition SpaceX clearly had the upper hand. However, some recent bugs and delays are allowing Blue Origin advance and continue in the fight. Will you pass them on the right? For now, the situation is equal. We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but the success of the MK1 tests leaves plenty of room for optimism for Jeff Bezos’ space company. Images | POT In Xataka | The launch pads are saturated for all space companies. For all but one: SpaceX

50 years later, the Soviet fire of the “Gates to Hell” is going out. And it’s not good news

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In 1971, in the heart of the Karakum Desert, a group of Soviet engineers observed how the ground was sinking under his feet after a failed drilling. What came next was not an immediate evacuation or closure of the area, but rather an improvised decision that, according to who witnessed itseemed like a quick solution to a specific problem. That choice, taken almost as another technical procedure, would end up having consequences that no one at that time was able to anticipate. The eternal fire goes out. During more than half a centurythe Darvaza crater has burned relentlessly in the middle of the desert, becoming an almost permanent image of inexhaustible fire that seemed to defy any natural logic. However, the most recent data show a clear change: the intensity of the flames has fallen drastically in recent years, losing more than 7% of its strength. What for decades was a constant spectacle begins to weaken, altering the perception of a phenomenon that many considered eternal. The origin between legend and Soviet heritage. The birth of the crater is still shrouded in all kinds of stories and uncertainty, although the most widespread and feasible version points to the accident. during Soviet drilling in search of gas in the sixties or seventies. According to this theory, the ground collapsed when it reached a pocket of natural gas and the engineers they decided to set fire to the site to prevent the release of toxic gases, convinced that it would be extinguished in a short time. Thus, what was going to last weeks lasted for decadesfed by an underground network of gas that never stopped flowing, giving rise to one of the best-known anomalies of the energy legacy of the former Soviet Union. From remote curiosity to global icon. Over time, the crater went from being a geological oddity to becoming a almost mythical destiny for travelers and explorers, despite the difficulties in accessing Turkmenistan. Its image, a gigantic burning cavity in the middle of nowhere, has fueled so much adventure tourism like internal propagandato the point of being used by country leaders as a symbol of power or control. The experience of approaching the edge and feeling the direct heat of the fire has reinforced its reputation as a unique place in the world. The attempt at control and doubts about its decline. For its part, the Turkmen government has years trying to control emissions from the crater, and attributes part of the recent weakening to new drilling nearby plants intended to extract gas. However, the independent analyzes They suggest that the loss of intensity could have begun before these interventions, which opens the door to natural causes that are not yet fully understood. This nuance introduces a key and dangerous uncertainty: it is not clear whether the end of the phenomenon responds to human action or to a change in the geological system itself. The unexpected twist: less fire does not mean less problem. Yes, because although At first glance, the reduction of the flames could seem like good news from an environmental point of view, the reality it is more complex. Fire acts as a mechanism that transforms methane (much more powerful as a greenhouse gas) into carbon dioxide, reducing its impact in the short term. If the flames subside, more methane could be released directly into the atmospherewhich would make progressive shutdown a potentially bigger problem. A fragile balance that is still active. Despite its weakening, the crater remains activewith visible flames and constant emissions that remind us that the phenomenon has not disappeared. The huge amount of gas accumulated underground suggests that the fire will not be completely extinguished in the short term, maintaining that strange balance between natural spectacle, industrial legacy and environmental problem. Thus, half a century later, the symbol of eternal fire begins to change, although its disappearance does not necessarily imply a more favorable end for the rest of the planet. Image | Stefan Krasowski, Tormod Sandtorv In Xataka | China’s first pipeline network is 4,000 years old and something revolutionary: it was built without the need for kings or nobles In Xataka | About to close, this remote mine in the Polar Circle has found a 2 billion-year-old yellow diamond that weighs 158 carats

The success of Artemis II has lit China’s space fire. Now, your space station will be twice as big

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All powers have embarked on the new space race and Artemis II It has been the lighthouse that demonstrates the interest that continues to arouse in sending humans outside our borders. Aside from rockets, in low orbit humanity has one of the most exclusive laboratories in the universe: the International Space Station. While the long-standing facility awaits dismantling, China has just sent a message with its Tiangong space station. Soon, it will be twice as big. Ambition. When China was left out of the International Space Station project, it got to work on its own facility. The Tiangong It began to take shape in the 2000s and launched its central module into low orbit in 2021. Other modules have been added designed for Chinese astronauts to investigate in an environment that, until now, was forbidden to them. Since then, it has become a symbol of the ambition of the Chinese space program. Also of the speed at which they are completing goalswith round trip rocket tests and plans for build, together with Russia, a lunar station. Despite everything, he has a problem. It is considerably smaller than the ISS and has a mass of just 100 tons, a pressurized volume of 340 m3 with the capacity to house a crew of three astronauts. Expanding the Tiangong. The ISS can support a crew of seven astronauts, has triple the pressurized volume capacity and a mass of more than 420 tons. If China wants to get involved in space research, it had to do something, and its response has come in the form of a project to expand the Tiangong. How has informed state television CCTV, the station will go from being a ‘T’-shaped structure with three modules to a cross-shaped one with six modules. Its mass will be approximately 180 tons and, although it will remain smaller than the ISS, it will have the capacity to equal the astronauts on a permanent mission: six. If the plans are fulfilled, the three current modules will be joined by a fourth that will have multiple docking ports that will give rise to future laboratory units, increasing the potential to six modules. At the moment, there is no date for this expansion, but it is estimated that work will begin around 2027 and will be a Long March 5B the rocket that will transport what is necessary. Since its T-shaped module was completed, astronauts have performed more than 260 experiments and 26 spacewalks. Exclusiveness. China spent 2025 launching rockets, culminating in a month of December in which they broke all their launch records in a stress test for your multiple mission points. With plans to expand their space station, they show that they are committed to this new era of research and exploration, being something that arrives just when the International Space Station remains in question. Tiangong has remained an exclusive laboratory for Chinese researchers, but if it suddenly becomes the only station in low orbit, China is the one that has the access key so that foreign astronauts can carry out their work in those special conditions. On April 22, the Chinese Manned Space Flight Agency already commented that two Pakistan Air Force pilots would be trained as reserve astronauts and one would travel to Tiangong. He will be the first non-Chinese astronaut to do so, although there are already other astronauts from Hong Kong and Macau who will perform the same process. It is something that responds to China’s intention to promote cooperation projects with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, but without forgetting that the Tiangong is Chinese and, as we say, they have the keys to the doors… and the right of admission. Scrap. While the Asian giant announces the good news around its station, on the other side of the world a dismantling process of the ISS is still scheduled for 2031. The plan is that NASA use a vehicle exclusive to SpaceX to guide the ISS to a space cemetery somewhere in the Pacific. In recent months there has been a lot of discussion about whether it is a better idea to dismantle it, turn it into scrap metal or use it as a portbut at this point, the plan continues its course and it is possible that, sooner rather than later, Tiangong will remain the only manned space station in low Earth orbit. In Xataka | Europe has grown tired of being NASA’s “supporting actor.” And that is why it is starting to work with China

two TVs with Fire TV and speaker with Harman audio for 408 euros

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Xiaomi has gone overboard with this pack that it has available on its website. If you were thinking of renewing your old TV, now is a good time to do it. You can take the Xiaomi TF 32 + the Xiaomi TV F 43 and the speaker Xiaomi Bluetooth Speaker at a price you won’t believe: 408 euros. Xiaomi TV F 32 2026 + Xiaomi TV F 43 2026 + Xiaomi Bluetooth Speaker The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A perfect pack to have a TV with Fire TV twice The crown jewels of this pack that Xiaomi offers on its website are these two TVs. These are two models belonging to the Xiaomi F 2026 series. Both have the same characteristics, what changes is their diagonal: 32 and 43 inchesbeing perfect options to renew old televisions in the kitchen or bedroom or equip your second home with them. The best thing about this TV from the Chinese manufacturer is that it integrates Fire TV as an operating systemthe same one worn by the Fire TV Stick from Amazon. This translates into full integration with Alexa and a fully optimized interface. Its design stands out for its almost non-existent edges and metallic finish, but there are many other things it houses inside that deserve to be highlighted. For example, although the panel is 60 Hz, it allows reaching 120 Hz in games thanks to the Game Boost mode. In audio it is compatible with Dolby Audio and DTS Virtual:X And, in addition, it comes with a , double that of the previous generation, which will prevent you from having to delete apps every now and then. Likewise, it stands out for being compatible with Apple AirPlaysomething that not many TVs in its price range can boast of. Regarding the Xiaomi Bluetooth Speaker that comes in the pack, what stands out most is that it allows professional adjustment thanks to the Harman AudioEFX audio software, thus offering a more balanced sound. In addition, the speaker incorporates touch controls and offers a total power of 40 W. It connects via Bluetooth 5.3 and its battery is charged via USB-C port, offering a total autonomy of up to 17 hours of use. ⚡ IN SUMMARY: xiaomi tv f 32 + xiaomi tv f 43 + xiaomi bluetooth speaker pack ✅ THE BEST Qunbeatable strength: For what a single TV usually costs, with this pack you get two televisions (ideal for the bedroom, kitchen or your second home) and, in addition, a Bluetooth speaker as a gift. Integration with Alexa: Coming with Fire TV as standard, if you have Alexa-compatible devices at home, you can easily control them from the TV using voice commands. ❌ THE WORST The brightness in HDR… Although it supports HDR10 and HLG, the maximum brightness is still somewhat limited if you put the TV in a brightly lit room. Advertising on the interface… Fire TV is a great system, but Amazon tends to be quite aggressive by showing recommendations and ads in the main menu. 💡 BUY IT IF… You already use Alexa at home and consume Prime Video, there is no better option. The remote with a dedicated button to talk to the voice assistant is very good. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… Your living room is very bright, reflections could be a problem, especially if you have a large window right in front of you. You may also be interested

In 2014 Amazon failed miserably with its Fire Phone. AI has given him the perfect excuse to go back to his old ways

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In 2014 Jeff Bezos was still the absolute boss of Amazon. And it occurred to him that Amazon should have its own smartphone, so the company ended up launching the fire phone. That device boasted a 3D screen that overheated the battery and a catalog without the apps that everyone used, but it also it was very expensive for the time ($649). It was canceled 14 months later and became one of the most notorious failures of the recent history of technology. Now Amazon wants to try again with a project codenamed Transformer. Same idea, different time. In reality, the underlying concept has not changed much since 2014. Here Amazon’s goal is to have its own device that has Alexa as an integral part of the experience, but that is also a gateway for purchases on Amazon, connects with Prime Video or its food delivery services. Or what is the same: it is the perfect mobile for those who make their lives revolve around the Amazon ecosystem. And be careful, because what failed in the past may have a chance now. AI as an argument. The Transformer project wants to integrate AI functions to ensure that with it we do what theoretically will end up arriving sooner or later: that we simply ask for what we need so that the phone takes care of everything. Alexa would be a central component of that experience here, and the advantage that Amazon has is that it has the infrastructure and ecosystem that should allow doing something like this. AI agents begin to demonstrate their potential —we are seeing it with OpenClaw—and if Amazon can make that shopping experience easier, you may have a winning idea here. A team with tables. The project is led by J. Allard from an internal unit called ZeroOne in which the objective is to create “revolutionary” devices. Allard was one of the fathers of the original Xbox at Microsoft and also of the Zune, the music player that tried to compete with the iPod and failed. But above him is Panos Panay, who headed the Surface division at Microsoft before joining Amazon. They are certainly two veterans with a lot of experience in the hardware field and know first-hand what it is like to compete with the market leaders from disadvantaged positions. Now they have a unique opportunity to shine, but the challenge is colossal. The ‘dumbphone’ as a back door. One of the most curious twists of the project is that Amazon is not only exploring a conventional smartphone, but also a “dumbphone.” That is, a simple and minimalist mobile with limited functions inspired by the Light Phone and its interface “dumbed down“. The argument is striking: here it is not about trying to unseat the iPhone as the main device, and instead Amazon could position it as “a second phone.” Mobile phones with limited functions represented 15% of global mobile sales in 2025 according to Counterpoint Researchand although it is a small market, Amazon may have an interesting entry point there. But. The context, however, complicates everything. Amazon comes to this project at a particularly difficult time for mobile hardware. The number of smartphones distributed (“sold”) will probably fall more than ever in 2026, and in fact the preliminary descent of that figure is 13% due especially to the RAM crisis. AI hardware is the holy grail. To this we must add the fact that for now no AI hardware device has succeeded, and those who have tried have been an absolute failure. The Humane AI Pin and the Rabbit R1 have been painful lessons for an industry that now certainly wants to try again—let them tell it to OpenAI and its alliance with Jony Ive—. The project is underway, but it is not ruled out that Amazon ends up canceling it if the strategy changes or the numbers do not add up. A golden opportunity. But what is certain is that Amazon has indisputable advantages in getting it right. For example, a service ecosystem with hundreds of millions of active users who already shop, watch content, and use Alexa, even if it’s just to set timers. The multi-million dollar investment in Anthropic and a relationship increasingly narrower with OpenAI they can also be key in this project. The question, of course, is whether an AI phone can really convince us to switch phones. And Amazon wants to have the answer to that question. In Xataka | NVIDIA is doing better than ever. And there is also more competition ready to eat it than ever.

We have been looking for fire hydrants in photos for years to prove that we are not a robot. Turns out we were the robot after all

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It happens to us every day: we try to enter a website and suddenly a grid of poor quality photos requires us to identify all the traffic lights, buses or even fire hydrants even though in Spain, for example, they do not have the characteristic design that is applied in the US. When we solve these puzzles we are not only proving that we are not a robot: we are working for Google. Google slaves. In the early 2000s, bots were destroying the internet, but a young man named Luis von Ahn had a great idea to stop them. Believe CAPTCHAa system that forced us to identify distorted words to prove that we were human and thus be able to access the content. That system evolved and Google bought the idea and turned it into a perfect system for something we have barely noticed: working for it. From Google Maps to Waymo. Since then, Google has not stopped taking advantage of the system for two intertwined objectives. The first, effectively, protect us from bots. The second, also known but much juicier for the company, is to turn us all into information taggers. Internet users first recognized words and became a gigantic OCR system that was applied to Google Maps. Then, with images, we ended up helping Google’s image recognition systems improve significantly. That has served, among other things, to feed the Waymo autonomous driving systems. Statistical consensus. How does Google know that when we choose a fire hydrant or a bus we are responding correctly? It knows this through the so-called “statistical consensus.” Google usually presents images in pairs: one of them (the control image) has already been previously identified by thousands of people, while the other is an “orphan” image that its computer vision algorithms cannot decipher. If you guess the known one, Google assumes you are human and uses your answer about the unknown image to feed its database. We are the product. All of our readers were probably already very aware of this reality, but now a debate is beginning to activate about the ethics and ownership of digital work. It is something that we already saw with social networks, which were fed by our content, and that certainly also applies to Google: to what extent is it legal for a company to have a huge AI infrastructure thanks to the billions of hours of unpaid “microwork” of its users? Here the famous “If you don’t pay for the product, you are the product.“. It is true that these Google systems have protected us from bots and we have not paid for them “with money”… but with those micro-jobs that we have carried out when solving the puzzles of the reCAPTACHA systems. Is it possible to poison the algorithm? Here also doubts arise about the true reliability of the system. If a mass group of users decided to mislabel traffic lights or fire hydrants in an organized way, would a self-driving car make dangerous decisions in the real world? That risk seems reasonable, and considering that AI models are increasingly more capable in abstract reasoning and even overcoming captchasan attack by AI bots that did something like this poses a threat worrying. The invisible CAPTCHA. Google itself knows that visual CAPTCHAs are no longer so insurmountable for machines, so it has been moving its systems towards reCAPTCHA v3a invisible system that does not require you to look for buses, zebra crossings or fire hydrants that you will never see on a street in Malaga or Bilbao. Instead, this system opaquely analyzes your behavior in front of the PC: how you move the mouse, what cookies you have installed and how you navigate. Or what is the same: Google thinks it knows how a human behaves when you’re going to click on “I’m not a robot”… when we’ve been working like robots for years and solving those puzzles. a brilliant idea. What is clear is that CAPTCHA has been a brilliant idea with implications that not even Google could have anticipated. In fact, it has turned this tool into a way to feed its artificial intelligence systems with our help, without us practically knowing (or caring much). But you know: the next time a website asks you to identify fire hydrants before entering it, remember that you are not demonstrating your humanity. You’re signing on to the afternoon shift at one of the largest data factories on the planet. In Xataka | The US blocked its most advanced chips from China to stop its AI. The result: China makes tokens cheaper than anyone else

That is precisely why he is going to fire 40% of the staff.

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Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter and current CEO of Block (which manages Square, Cash App and Tidal), has just done something that few CEOs dare to do: fire 40% of his employees at once, at a time when is making profits. The most curious thing is that its investors seem to agree with Dorsey’s decision and have celebrated it with a historic rise in the company’s shares. Thus, Block will go from having more than 10,000 workers to just under 6,000. That leaves a balance of more than 4,000 layoffs in a single day. Dorsey does not hide: the official reason is increased productivity What artificial intelligence offers. A 40% cut with benefits. Dorsey communicated his plans to lay off 40% of his staff through a post on Xand justified it as a proactive move, not a response to any financial problem. According to the CEO himself, the company is going through a good economic moment and is marking an upward path in profits. “We did not make this decision because we are in trouble. Our business is solid. Gross profits continue to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers and profitability is improving,” the CEO confirmed in his statement. That is precisely one of the keys that it is marking the latest rounds of layoffs and it makes a big difference in terms of the traditional reasons why companies fired their employees. As its CEO points out, the layoffs are not the result of a financial crisis, but rather are due to the increase (or the promise of that increase). in productivity that AI automation brings. This technology allows do the same with less staff. “We’re already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re building and using, along with smaller, flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working that fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a business. And that’s accelerating rapidly,” Dorsey wrote in his message. Those laid off do not stay stranded. The more than 4,000 employees affected by the unexpected layoff will receive 20 weeks of base salary plus one additional week for each year of seniority in the company. According to collect Business Insideremployees affected by staff cuts They will be able to keep their corporate devices and will be given an additional payment of $5,000. As Dorsey explained, they are aware that, in the short term, the layoffs were going to be irremediable, so instead of progressively reducing their workforce, they have chosen to cut short, avoiding smaller rounds of layoffs that damage the morale and focus of the staff and the trust of clients and shareholders. “I would rather take firm, clear action now and build from a position of belief than manage a slow downsizing toward the same outcome.” Why now and why so many. According what was published by WiredBlock has been applying personnel cuts in different departments for months. The company had already laid off 931 employees in March 2025 and nearly 1,000 more jobs in January 2024. One of the reasons behind these successive layoffs is the correction of overhiring during the pandemic, a correction that caused hundreds of thousands of layoffs among the main technology companies between 2022 and 2024. This is an argument that Dorsey has not deniedbut it does not stand out as the main trigger for layoffs, putting the target on the increase in productivity that AI provides. Block surpassed 12,000 employees in 2022, in a stage of accelerated expansion that now, with AI tools integrated into the workflow, is impossible to justify. Block CFO Amrita Ahuja was quite blunt about it, ensuring that the layoffs will allow the company to move faster “with smaller, highly talented teams that use AI to automate more work.” Investors applaud him. Block shares they were shot more than 24% after the announcement. This is the reflection of a dynamic that is becoming increasingly common in which investors reward with increases in share prices and massive layoffs as a sign of efficiency and modernization. Michael Blank, associate professor of finance at Stanford Business School, explained to Business Insider that this dynamic could unleash a competition between CEOs of large companies to convince investors that their companies are better prepared than their rivals, thus turning massive layoffs into a tool to improve capitalization figures. Block’s stock had been struggling for months before the announcement. According to data collected by Ad Hoc News In February, the stock was trading 21% below its start-of-year price and 37% below its 52-week high. In that context, Dorsey would have managed to kill two birds with one stone: reorganize his company towards a more AI-oriented model and relaunch investor confidence. Doing more with less: the key to layoffs. With his decision, Dorsey has left a message that goes far beyond Block’s management itself, and proposes a change in the relationship between the number of people a company needs to do a job. “It seems inevitable that this will spread to all publicly traded companies. We have to find a way for everyone to be an owner and have some exposure to the benefits, as the number of employees drops dramatically,” said Jessica Verrilli, CEO of the venture investment fund Adverb Ventures. in response to Dorsey’s post. In the presentation of Block’s results, the CEO assured that the increase in AI productivity It inevitably led to staff cuts because fewer hands were needed to do the job. “I don’t think we’re the first to realize this. I think most companies are late,” collected Business Insider. He’s not the only one who thinks so. Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski has been running a similar strategy for years and, in a recent interviewassured that by 2030 his company will be able to do without 30% of the 3,000 employees who currently make up the payment platform’s workforce due to the increase in productivity provided by AI. In Xataka | “The world is in danger”: Anthropic’s security manager leaves the company to write poetry Image … Read more

AI is just an excuse to fire

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For months, layoffs at big tech have been justified under the umbrella of AI as if it were the great devourer of jobs. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, assures that these companies have used AI as a scapegoat to carry out unpopular cuts which have nothing to do with, in fact, anything to do with the actual use or implementation of this technology. This trick, known as “AI washing“ or AI laundering, has allowed companies to make up workforce adjustments to readjust to a new market situation after overhiring during the pandemic and save costs, while at the same time imbuing themselves with a technological innovation patina. The perfect excuse. In an interview for the American network CNBC On the occasion of the India IA Impact Summit, Sam Altman attacked those who were using AI as a pretext to fire their staff. However, the founder of OpenAI described a two-pronged scenario: on the one hand, there are companies that rely on the AI ​​narrative to justify unpopular cuts. “I don’t know what the exact percentage is, but there’s a bit of ‘AI washing’ where people blame AI for layoffs they would do anyway.” However, the manager also recognized that the arrival of AI was indeed displacing some profiles due to the automation of certain administrative tasks, although he justified this displacement as part of the natural technological evolution.​ “We will find new types of jobs, as we do with each technological revolution.” Altman acknowledges that “the real impact of AI on employment in the coming years will begin to be palpable,” but he does not believe that the current impact of AI on the labor market is so severe as to be the direct cause of the hundreds of thousands of layoffs which were executed in 2025. The data does not fit the narrative. A study of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) revealed that almost 90% of the 6,000 managers of companies from the US, United Kingdom, Germany and Australia who participated stated that AI has not affected employment in the three years after the launch of ChatGPT. Other report Prepared by The Budget Lab at Yale University, it analyzed data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics until November 2025 and found no significant variations in unemployment in the occupations most exposed to the impact of AI. Martha Gimbel, co-director of the laboratory that prepared the report, assured to Fortune that “No matter what perspective you look at the data, at this very moment it doesn’t look like there are any major macroeconomic effects here.” According to the report data of the Challenger, Gray & Christmas labor platform, in 2025 were attributed directly to the AI ​​some 54,836 layoffs, out of a total of 1,206,374 layoffs in the US during 2025. This implies that the AI ​​was really behind 0.045% of the total of all layoffs for the year. The threat is real. Although AI is not the real reason behind the current layoffs, its impact on the labor market in the coming years is undeniable. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, stated a few days ago to Business Insider that “half of office jobs could disappear in the next five years.” Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of the Klarna payment platform, which has already dispensed with part of its staff to implement AI customer service agents, spoke along the same lines. in an interview. The manager assured that by 2030 his company will be able to do without 30% of the 3,000 employees who currently make up the payment platform’s workforce. On the other hand, as how he published he Financial Timesthe data are already beginning to show the first effects of the increase in productivity derived from technological investment with a relative drop of 13% in the employment of junior workers in positions highly exposed to AI. Don’t call it AI, call it dropping ballast. However, the incipient arrival of AI in the coming years does not justify that the layoffs that have been carried out throughout 2025 are as a direct effect of AI or because an AI has replaced the worker. In a statementAmazon linked the dismissal of 16,000 employees to AI, saying it would need “fewer people for some jobs done today.” Days later, at a conference with investors, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy disassociated the layoffs from AI, stating that “The announcement we made a few days ago didn’t have a real financial boost, it’s not even driven by AI, at least not right now. It’s a cultural issue.” Microsoft and other companies have followed the same pattern of justification for dismissals making excuses for AI, when in reality AI is not implemented enough in companies to be a reason for dismissal in rounds of tens of thousands of employees. Call it business strategy, but don’t blame AI. In Xataka | “The world is in danger”: Anthropic’s security manager leaves the company to write poetry Image | Wikipedia

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